The Arctic Queen | Page 7

Our great High Priest!
Our world doth wear
Thy livery fair
From sparkling mount to jewel rare;
And every lightest flake
That drops into the lake;
And all the solemn beauty spread
Across the land, by thee is shed:--
Most magical thy influences are
Thou wond'rous Star, Lueladar!
PART SECOND.
OLIVE had crossed the mystic sea again,?Which spread its silver circle round the Pole.?Her feet were weary and her thoughts were sad.?Immeasurably tall the icy Thug,--?That wond'rous mountain of whose old renown?The Arctic world thought with exalted hearts--?Stood in her path and seemed to bar her way.?Four months of darkness in the valley slept,?Freezing in silent dreams; the Moon did crown?The hoary brow of the old headland, Thug,?With a dim glory, as of silver locks:--?It held its head aloft and seemed to be?Peering through heaven's roof upon its God.
"Ah, BERTHO! BERTHO!" the young traveller cried,?While rapid tears ran down her grief-touched cheeks:--?"Is there no way save this? My feet refuse?To do the bidding of my heart; no more?This faithful bosom thy delight shall be--?No more thine eyes shall smile into mine own?Till both swim full of bliss--no more thy mouth?Breathe its soft words and kisses on my cheek,?Naming me thine--thine only--thine forever!?Where art thou, BERTHO? BERTHO! Cruel Thug;?Sink thyself in the sea, presumptuous mount,?Till I can pluck my lover from thy breast!"?The echo of her heart did mock her cry;?Long time, she lay, half perished, on the snow,?Till love revived, with its eternal fires,?The warmth of purpose in her chilly breast;?Then, springing to her feet, she shook her curls,?In golden billows from her brows, the while?That a sweet resoluteness on her lip?Settled itself, and triumphed in her eyes:--?"Torrent nor precipice, nor jutting crag--?Night, spirits, ghouls, nor ravenous wild beasts,?Distance, nor time, shall fright me from the way,"?She said, and silently began to climb,?Though avalanches roared from steep to steep?And fear increased with every perilous step.?The Moon alone was kind to the poor child,?Shedding its softest lustre round her feet.?Near half way up the mount she may have passed?When a fierce growl smote on her frightened ear,?As, from the shadows bounding, came a beast,?Grizzly, ferocious, snapping its sharp tusks:--?So close it came she felt the hungry breath?Rushing in fiery vapor from its mouth,?She sprang aside, then fled; but steep the path,?And sinking fainting, to the ground, she sighed--?"This is the last! BERTHO! Ah, me! farewell!"
"Nay, not the last! thou'rt not dead yet, my dear!?Look up, thou fairy, or thou mortal child--?I scarce know which--assure thyself of life.?Look up! look up! It cannot be I see?Before me, in this region of dispair,?A veritable mortal?"
By his voice?Recalled to life, the trembling girl arose.?Before her stood a man; and in his hand?A spear that dripped with her pursuer's blood.?With still unconquered terror of the brute?She turned her head.
"Fear nothing, thou sweet child;?But if thou art what now thou dost appear,?A creature of that world from whence I come,?Let me but hear thy voice--but hear one word?Of my blest country's language, and I'll deem?The service I have done thee with this spear?Naught in comparison. Speak, quickly speak!"
"What shall I say, but thank thee for my life??I am a maiden from far Southern climes?Come searching for my lover. Dost thou know?Where cruel OENE hast my BERTHO hidden??What do'est thou here? It must be thou art come?In search of wife or child,--what other fate?Could lead thee to such barren heights as these?"
"Alas! dear child! there are other springs than love?To move the human heart. Ambition, may be;?Or better, a desire to serve my Queen?And my illustrious country, led me here."
He paused and sighed. She saw his locks were thin;?Some white with years, but more with troubled toil;?And that he stood barefooted in the snow.?The pitying tears began within her eyes?To gather into brightness as she gazed,?Upon the grey, sublime, forlorn old man.?Coldly the moonlight glinted o'er the group?Regarding each the other with surprise:--?She, sad at his abandonment of hope;?He, struck with mingled wonder and delight?To meet this woman, beautiful and young.
"Dear friend," she said, brushing away her tears,?"If thou wilt rest thee on this smoothest rock?And tell me who thou art, and whence did